If You Won't Change, Then It's Your OWN Damn Fault!

It's tough working in healthcare sometimes. I see a LOT! An incredible lot. I see things that make me smile, and I see things that are really disturbing. It all adds up to the big picture I see in healthcare everyday. I see scores and scores of people added to the list of Type-2 Diabetics every day. A few more people falling victim to a disease that is claiming the lives of so many. I FIRMLY believe that it is in the way me and you LIVE that is increasing the incidence of this disease. I have seen people lose toes, lose feet, lose legs, even fingers, to amputations. I've seen people have to go on dialysis (a machine that performs the job of damaged kidneys), and I've seen people die from the complications that could have all been prevented. I think that's the part that bothers me most. You have to remember that each disease that you see such as Diabetes Mellitis could PROBABLY have been prevented. Sure, there are things that are hereditary that we cannot change, but in everything else just about, we can change! We can change the way we eat, what we eat, when, and how much we eat. We can change from sedentary lifestyle, to a more active one with exercise, and bodybuilding. We can STOP drinking. We can STOP smoking. It's all in our will. We all have to be strong and have some backbone. Our get up and do, cannot have gotten up and went!

I would like for you to change. I would like for you to live longer. I believe that our grandparents lived to ripe old ages of 85 and 95, and the fact that more people are dying before age 75 now, for a reason. Grandma barely wanted to take a Tylenol for a migraine. Grandpa couldn't be drug to a doctor by ten horses! Grandma gave birth without so much as a shot of anesthesia! And here WE are...in OUR day and age, with SHOPPING BAGS full of meds for everything from high blood pressure to high cholesterol, to antidipressants, to blood thinners, to diabetes medications, and the shopping bags are getting bigger folks!!! Every day at work, I see a patient with a two and three page list of medications! About 10 meds per page. Some meds are "as needed". Some are taken once, twice, three times a day! When I was a paramedic, I remember a house I went to where a lady in her 50's said " Hang on! Let me get my meds!", and I kid you NOT, she brought out a shopping bag! The shopping bag was 75% of the way full!!! There MUST have been at LEAST 25 meds in her bag! I said "Ma'am you take ALL of this???", in total disbelief, and she said " Yes. " I was beside myself. No wonder Americans aren't living longer. No wonder new diseases are running rampant. No wonder the incidences of Diabetics are increasing. I believe that there is no possible way in which someone can take medications, without somewhere down the line, it's doing harm to our bodies. There is no way it could not! Look at the tv commercials. Open your eyes up! Every med you see has a string of at least 10 possible side effects. Listen carefully to the end of the commercials. Now... multiply that by 25 meds. See what I mean? They also try to hide the side effects by speaking different ways to trick your brain into thinking less of some, and more of others. For example, in a recent commercial I heard " Side effects may include blurred vision, dizzyness, dry mouth, vomiting, and diarhea. See your doctor if you notice headace, bloody sputum, blood in your urine, chest pain, or cough that doesn't go away in two days." NOW...are we on the same page? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

I'm not asking you to stop taking the meds that you need. I'm saying change your lifestyle so you WON'T NEED as many. If you have high blood pressure, reduce your sodium intake, your stress, and get more of a cardiac workout, a good brisk walk, for starters, would do. If you have high cholesterol, DUH! Don't eat things that are high in cholesterol or high in fat! If you are diabetic, DUH!! Watch what you put into your gut! If you are overweight, that should be clue 1. If you have lack of energy, that should be clue 2. If you feel stuffed, that might be clue 3. If you eat at a buffet more than twice a week, that should be clue 4. DO you see my point? We all know what we are supposed to be eating and not supposed to be eating. We are not dumb. If you are reading this, you are not illiterate. If you understand what I'm telling you here, then you have the God given sense to do online research, or ask your doctor what things you could do to reduce the number of meds you have to take. The more you complain, the more he'll give you meds just to shut you up. His job is to treat you, not to live your life for you. He encounters more than just a handful of people who, if they don't get the meds they want, they choose another doctor, so what incentive would he have to DENY you the meds you ask for. Be honest with yourself. Ask yourself if there's anything you can change to help your condition. I bet you find several things.

" God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things that I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference." - Serenity Prayer